Electrical switch?

[Broccoli1]

This is on the side of my friends house.

I've never seen one and we don't know what it controls.

house was built in 1945

[Steve from SoCal]

Where does it come from and, what is it connected to? Landscape lights? Pool or fountain?

[Bistineau]

That looks to be a cover intended for use in areas with a potentially explosive atmosphere. If you remove the cover, you will most likely find standard type light switches inside. At least standard for 1945.

[WNY_TomB]

This is on the side of my friends house.

I've never seen one and we don't know what it controls.

house was built in 1945

.
.
looks like water proof cover often a regular switch is inside it is just designed to keep liquids like rain out. fairly standard in factories with a lot of water being sprayed around to clean stuff
.
wouldnt surprise me if found at tractor supply too. farmers hosing down the manure around the barn

[Broccoli1]

He does have a pool but the switches for the pool are inside the gare.

maybe left over form the original pool equipment.

[mla2ofus]

Explosion proof, which in this age of lawyers would be called explosion "resistant". Saw many of them in the USAF in munitions storage/ handling areas.
Mike

[duaneb55]

I'd say the guys have it right.

A newer Crouse-Hinds version . . .

[Broccoli1]

Explosion proof for a residential house application??

[Bistineau]

Explosion proof for a residential house application??

Maybe they had easy access to them, and thought they would look cool for the purpose.

[WNY_TomB]

explosion proof have o ring seals and gaskets which makes them water proof
.
technically in high solvent areas i saw compressed air supplied dc motors. the fresh air over brush commutators that makes sparks was to force any solvent air that might leak in and instead fresh air would leak out
.
explosion resistant or water resistant is what they are probably called now a days

[drujinin]

1945?
He should probe his yard for a "Bomb Shelter"!
Probably some surplus that was available at the time and was originally on some yard lights or as suggested maybe a pool?

[duaneb55]

Explosion proof for a residential house application??

Those are definitely not rated NEMA-7. No machined gasket/o-ring surface, material too thin and those 4 dinky little screws would likely not retain that cover in the event of an internal vapor/air explosion in that box.

NEMA-4? Yes. NEMA-7? Definitely not.

[Steve from SoCal]

If the house was built in 1945 then best guess is, who ever did that work bought surplus from war plant inventory. The brief may have asked for a water resistant switch, guy that did the work bought these cheap as surplus. Very likely 1946~51 era, Lockheed, North American, Douglas or, Northrop plus, hundreds of other heavy industrial plants. That was when L.A. was a huge center of war production.

[akphill]

I have different shape of switch but same thing
I use them to control lights outside in the weather

[Oldendum]

Look at the prices on those antique Crouse Hinds switches!

http://shop.industrailia.com/Industr...itches_c24.htm

$259.

[Broccoli1]

Look at the prices on those antique Crouse Hinds switches!

http://shop.industrailia.com/Industr...itches_c24.htm

$259.

i saw those after I googled the name that Duane posted up :0

[Willie B]

Very cool!

Willie

[Insaneride]

I have a three gang. I thought it was/is just an old outdoor light sw cover. Explosion proof and $345

Regular old light switches fit into the rockers. The switch part is all brass and cover is cast.

[Sandy]

Years ago they would use all switches (boxes) like that in coal mines. Phones, switches, everything electrical went into what was commonly called a 'mine box'. Now it wasn't because they wanted the protect the device from explosions, they wanted to prevent even the tiniest of arcs from causing an explosion. Coal dust and sparks were a bad mix. So they were explosion resistant in a different way.

[Oldendum]

Some interesting old electrical stuff for sale here: http://www.urbanremainschicago.com/p...vices.html?p=1

[duaneb55]

Look at the prices on those antique Crouse Hinds switches!

http://shop.industrailia.com/Industr...itches_c24.htm

$259.

I still question the claim of an explosion proof (NEMA-7) rating based on its construction and my experience in dealing with such rated enclosures. NEMA-5 at best is my guess with the more common 3 or 4 the better likelihood.
http://www.nema.org/Products/Documen...sure-types.pdf

Those single plunger pieces shown in the "vintage" link are actually mounted upside down and should be as the one in Ed's photo.

[WorldPowerLabs]

I think that drujinin may be correct about someone having used that cover because it was easily available as surplus. I think that my grandpa had the same type of cover (in a single-switch configuration) controlling one of the outdoor lights on his farm (he and the farm are both gone now, so I can't be absolutely certain, but it looks familiar). It wasn't used in a classified (hazardous) location, so it's likely that someone just used it because it was convenient.

[leightrepairs]

https://www.galco.com/buy/Crouse-Hinds/DS128

Only rain tight

Mike